US citizen seeks Euro bank account

[Alita49DS]

If you can get something like REVOLUT in the US then that might be a better solution. Link the card to your US$ account, instantly transfer in, then exchange to € or other currencies at the market rates for the day. All done with a mobile phone app.

Generally, the exchange rates that banks give you are a very bad deal indeed. Nearly as bad as airports. That is a good reason to avoid banks and go for a card. Not any card though. Fintech is a very interesting area.

[redneckrob]

If you're planning on converting any significant amount of currency I highly recommend an Interactive Brokers account. They have a currency conversion function designed specifically for cash conversions, you can wire or ACH in dollars, convert to euros or any other currency, and wire or ACH out in that currency. Cost is the interbank exchange rate plus a commission of a couple bucks, vice the percent markup that everyone else (including the otherwise excellent Transferwise) does. Given that it costs Transferwise and everyone else exactly the same to convert $500 as $500,000 it's just not worth paying them several extra thousand dollars for transactions over a nominal amount.

[Alita49DS]

All very well but in the absence of an account with a card how do you conveniently spend in € or whatever? That is where Revolut comes in. See https://community.revolut.com/t/revo...-the-usa/12406

[john61ct]

Not yet arrived stateside

[KP44]

I tried for a couple decades to have a relative in either France or the U.K. open an account for me, or open a joint account that I could use.
I stopped trying about 10 years ago when my VISA stopped charging a fee to pay in other currency and my bank stopped charging a foreign transaction fee on every credit card purchase.

[jmh2002]

Originally Posted by Alita49DS

All very well but in the absence of an account with a card how do you conveniently spend in € or whatever? That is where Revolut comes in. See https://community.revolut.com/t/revo...-the-usa/12406

Yes it's the same with TransferWise, they offer a Mastercard to withdraw cash or make purchases. The rest of your account management is done via the web or their app.

What I find very convenient is their 'Borderless' account system whereby you can have multiple accounts of different currencies which can all seamless interact with each other, and in general there is no minimum balance.

It really is very far removed from a traditional bank's 'Foreign Currency Account'.

To the OP: it's free to open a Transfer account and get the card so you might as well trial it and see if it works for you, or keep it as another option.

[CaptHotelIndia]

Thank you all for your information! The purpose of this account is really just one thing: to transfer a boatload of USD to Euros when the exchange rate is good, and transfer the Euros into the brokers escrow account during final purchase of a boat. I have not yet found a way to do this. Transferwise looked great, but has a few hang ups for me. One being that I live in Hawaii, where the Borderless account is not available. And even if I could create a mainland address to register under, Transferwise does not send Euros to many countries outside the ESCB (European System of Central Banks) i.e. Australia, where I need to send to. So for my probably rare circumstances, Transferwise Borderless account won't work for me to accomplish this. Oh yes, and the Thousands of dollars in fees. Just thought I would share that info to maybe save someone else the legwork I went through.

On another note to share some info, I have used XE.com to exchange USD into Euros and deposit to the National Australia Bank euro account, when a previous payment just happened to line up with favorable exchange rate. XE's fees were nominal, they also have the most convenient chart I've seen if you're watching the exchange rates daily/weekly/monthly.

[letsgetsailing3]

Originally Posted by CaptHotelIndia

Thank you all for your information! The purpose of this account is really just one thing: to transfer a boatload of USD to Euros when the exchange rate is good, and transfer the Euros into the brokers escrow account during final purchase of a boat. I have not yet found a way to do this. Transferwise looked great, but has a few hang ups for me. One being that I live in Hawaii, where the Borderless account is not available. And even if I could create a mainland address to register under, Transferwise does not send Euros to many countries outside the ESCB (European System of Central Banks) i.e. Australia, where I need to send to. So for my probably rare circumstances, Transferwise Borderless account won't work for me to accomplish this. Oh yes, and the Thousands of dollars in fees. Just thought I would share that info to maybe save someone else the legwork I went through.

On another note to share some info, I have used XE.com to exchange USD into Euros and deposit to the National Australia Bank euro account, when a previous payment just happened to line up with favorable exchange rate. XE's fees were nominal, they also have the most convenient chart I've seen if you're watching the exchange rates daily/weekly/monthly.

For that purpose, you could also just buy an ETF if you want to hedge the exchange rate. Having an account in a country is likely to eat you up in fees and hassles.

[TravellingKiwis]

I second Revolut, the best global bank I have ever come across. I hold 4 different currencies but could have many more. I have official UK and euro account numbers, unlimited foreign exchange at the interbank rate, a MasterCard (debit card), virtual disposable MasterCard's I can create on the fly in the app to use for internet transactions. Everything that's difficult with normal banks is easy to do in the Revolut app.
I used to use transfer wise and several others but I found Revolut cheaper and better in everyway. Now I get my pay deposited straight into it, live in the Caribbean and don't use any other banks. I find it the perfect cruisers bank.

[category4jay]

Banks are in business to make money. So because they produce or manufacture virtually nothing the only way they make money is to carve a piece off of their customers

[category4jay]

Why not crypto currency?

[Montanan]

Originally Posted by TravellingKiwis

I second Revolut, the best global bank I have ever come across. I hold 4 different currencies but could have many more. I have official UK and euro account numbers, unlimited foreign exchange at the interbank rate, a MasterCard (debit card), virtual disposable MasterCard's I can create on the fly in the app to use for internet transactions. Everything that's difficult with normal banks is easy to do in the Revolut app.
I used to use transfer wise and several others but I found Revolut cheaper and better in everyway. Now I get my pay deposited straight into it, live in the Caribbean and don't use any other banks. I find it the perfect cruisers bank.

Revolut is coming to the U.S.A
Introducing Revolut - your digital banking alternative for instant payment notifications, free international money transfers and global fee-free spending.

One can join their waiting list at the link to receive notification when they are prepared to do business with residents of the U.S.A.

Reference link: https://www.revolut.com/en-US/

[letsgetsailing3]

Originally Posted by Montanan

Revolut is coming to the U.S.A
Introducing Revolut - your digital banking alternative for instant payment notifications, free international money transfers and global fee-free spending.

One can join their waiting list at the link to receive notification when they are prepared to do business with residents of the U.S.A.

Reference link: https://www.revolut.com/en-US/

How do they make their money?

[Montanan]

Originally Posted by letsgetsailing3

How do they make their money?

Pricing: https://www.revolut.com/en-US/our-pricing-plans

Plus I suspect they make a spread between the interbank rates [pips, percentage in point] on each FX transaction, just don't charge a fee instead offer a difference in their currency valuations.

[john61ct]

Tech-related startups in a hot niche do not need profits for many many years

as long as the investors are kept happy